Bar openings and events in NYC

With America celebrating its 250th birthday, you know that 4th of July celebrations are going to go all out this year. One of the most luxe blowouts of them all? That has to go to Manhatta.  Ringing in the holiday right, Manhatta is hosting its Sky-High 4th of July celebration. The skyline view restaurant is pulling out all of the stops for a lively cookout, albeit 60 floors up in the sky. Expect over-the-top BBQ favorites—pulled pork and hot dogs included—as well as boozy snow cones and desserts. Naturally, the open bar will be in full force, shaking up house cocktails, wine and beer alongside non-alcoholic beverages. There will be plenty of lawn and arcade games about, or you can always groove to the music courtesy of the live band. And now that the Macy's 4th of July fireworks are showing at three locations across NYC, the Lower East River, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Hudson River where Manhatta overlooks, the views are bound to be sensational.  Manhatta's Sky-High 4th of July will be held on the Fourth of July from 6-10pm. Tickets are $250 and are all-inclusive. Reserve your ticket here. 

Kabawa is one of the hottest tickets in town. Paul Carmichael's Caribbean affair has already earned adoring fans in its first year of business, earning a five-star review from us and the title of the best restaurant in the entire country by Food & Wine. Given those stats, securing a table can be a bit of a challenge, unless you don't mind dining at 10pm. Thankfully, there's also next door's Bar Kabawa, which gives us good reason to visit—particularly to sip on nitro daiquiris and sink your teeth into glossy patties. And now Carmichael has teamed up with a handful of chef pals for a patty collab, sweetening the deal even further.    Bar Kabawa is hosting Patties & Pals, a monthly series where several culinary titans in NYC are taking a spin on one of the most iconic dishes of the Caribbean, the humble patty. Bringing its old-school Italian sensibilities to the medium, Nolita's Torrisi is kicking off the series on May 19, starting strong with the Jamaican beef ragu patty. Later in the summer, Fort Greene's Strange Delight will bring a NOLA-inflected spin on the dish, serving up the Creole daube with Kyoto carrots and hakurei turnips.  The series extends all the way to the fall. Keep in mind that you can catch these specialty patties for only one week. So do as Carmichael says and come on by to "Fill Yuh Belly."  Patties & Pals Calendar: May 19-23: Torrisi June 16-20: Sunn’s July 14-18: Strange Delight August 18-22: Win Son September 15-19: Salty Lunch Lady October 13-17:...

There are a lot of cocktail-making classes in New York, but Manhattan’s first legal distillery to open since Prohibition, Great Jones, does it just right. Set within its underground speakeasy, its two-hour class, The Shake Up, taught me how to make two actually-delicious cocktails with its smooth whiskey—but that’s not all. To start the class, we were whisked into the distillery where we had a quick tour and learned about the distilling process and the different kinds of whisky that are made on site—helping set the scene for the imbibing we were about to do below.  Once downstairs, we were immediately greeted with a Great Jones Straight Bourbon Smoked Old Fashioned (a welcome cocktail) and a solid charcuterie board (smoked almonds, marinated olives, dark chocolate coins, Jasper Hills Farm Alpha Tolman cheese, Jasper Hills Farms Moses, American Prosciutto and housemade sourdough crackers) at each table. To my surprise, we did a tasting of a few of the Great Jones Straight Bourbons, which already had me wondering how I’d get through making two cocktails. Our mixologist Ren took us step-by-step on how to make a Boulevardier and a Paper Plane, giving us tips and tricks along the way, including how to use (and open) a cocktail shaker and how to smoke one. The welcoming and cozy atmosphere helped me to relax and just learn, too, rather than being anxious about not being the best mixologist. I definitely made a few spills along the way, but I learned so much about why whiskey...

Join us for a rooftop spritz, would you?  At Time Out Market New York, Dumbo, we invite you to Sunset Spritz Hour, a weekday happy hour designed for a little after-work unwind. Whether you’re wrapping up the workday or looking for a new neighborhood happy hour spot, Sunset Spritz Hour is your excuse to slow down and sip with skyline views and refreshing cocktails.  Our 5th-floor rooftop will be hosting Sunset Spritz on Mondays through Thursdays all spring and summer long. Climb up to the roof for $50 pitchers and choose from one of our stellar spritzes: Aperol, Hug, limoncello or one of our seasonal creations. Catch it from 5:30pm to 7:30pm, and sip in style as the sun dips down over the city.  So bring your coworkers, meet friends and make Sunset Spritz Hour your new weekday ritual.